Five Minute Friday – Lonely

I love this link party, so I thought I would participate. I have five minutes to write about lonely…

It is lonely sometimes even in a world where so many people are present at all times. But, sometimes that loneliness is self-driven. I often put myself in positions to feel lonely. This can be done simply by staying home when social opportunities present themselves. Sometimes I do that because I’m truly tired, but other times I stay home because I am feeling vulnerable. That vulnerability is not really helped by staying home, but it seems like a risk to go out and try to engage with others. Sometimes I make myself lonely by not sharing the truth about my life. I hide things from others because I feel like they can’t relate or like I should be able to deal with whatever it is on my own. This, I think, is a particularly difficult form of loneliness, because it is like being emotionally exiled (except it is a self-imposed exile, so I don’t know what that would be called. I have been in this form of emotional exile for a pretty long time now for different reasons.

Loneliness is not good, but being alone is sometimes helpful. I sometimes get over-exposed to people and need some alone time. So, I definitely don’t think that loneliness is the same as being alone. But, sometimes being alone does result in loneliness.

Wow…five minutes really flies when you are writing!

If you would like to participate in the Five Minute Friday link party, just click on the picture above and it will take you to the page. Thanks for reading!

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Published by Chico Speech Coach

Idea gardener. Public speaking and argument instructor. Dir. of Intercollegiate Speech and Debate at CSU Chico. I have been a Communications Studies instructor and an Intercollegiate Speech and Debate coach for over two decades. I love being able to give individuals a confident and effective voice they can use in their lives. In addition, I have always enjoyed research and writing and helping to develop ideas by guiding students to the sources that will grow those ideas into something special. Information Literacy is a key part of our technological society and I believe it makes for lifelong learners.
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Wow – thanks so much for sharing the link to that post over at Lisa Jo’s! It is something I needed to read about now. I do try at times, but often I take the easy way out and simply don’t reach out. And I love the idea of inviting grace and love and kindness…what more can you ask for than that?

Good thoughts sister. But remember that lonely is only meant to be temporary. It’s healthy in small doses but not good if we try to make it permanent. Come visit me if you start taking it too far. I’d love to get together with you and kick loneliness out the door. Thank you for sharing with us. I really enjoyed reading your writing.

I love that about it feeling like a risk. I find sometimes vulnerability doesn’t seem strong enough – sometimes it feels more like fear and defending ourselves, protecting ourselves. But oh do i know what u mean. Self inflicted indeed. Thank you for sharing this!